Canada: Feds may yield to pressure to scale back beer labelling rules

OTTAWA — The federal government is considering yielding to pressure from the beer industry to scale back new food labelling rules designed to protect people with food allergies, Health Canada has confirmed.

After working on the plan for more than a decade, Health Canada announced the labelling proposal in 2008 to make it easier for people with allergies to identify ingredients and alert consumers if a food or beverage contains a known allergen, such as nuts, milk and sulphites.

The final regulations were set to be published in the next few weeks following lengthy consultations with health and industry groups. But this timeline — and the products covered by the new regulations — are now up in the air after a last-ditch lobbying campaign by the beer industry over the objections of allergy associations.

The Brewers Association of Canada is pushing hard behind the scenes for an exemption to the labelling rules requiring enhanced labelling for gluten sources and added sulphites — and Health Canada is now mulling over the beer industry’s request.